The present invention relates to a conveyor belt for carrying tacky materials such as oil sand, and more particularly a conveyor belt wherein adhesion of the tacky materials can be effectively prevented.
Oil sand, containing as its principal constituent quartz sand, is a clay-like material containing a large amount of a tar material or bitumen out of which synthetic crude oil is produced. In general, conveyance of oil sand by a conveyor belt has faced problems of adhesion of oil sand to the conveyor belt, and in the prior art conveyor belt, oil sand easily adheres thereto to form an undesired thick layer, and it has been desired to overcome this defect.
In order to cope with this difficulty, before oil sand is placed on such a conveyor belt, kerosene and antifreezing solution or a surface active agent is applied onto the conveyor belt so as to prevent adhesion of oil sand to the conveyor belt and formation of a thick layer thereon. However, these methods have caused a rise in cost of conveyance due to additional installation costs and material costs, and usage of kerosene or the like will disadvantageously increase the danger of fire. Under these circumstances, there has been a strong desire to develop a conveyor belt which requires no such application of adhesion-proofing agents such as kerosene but is free from adhesion of oil sand.